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Borderlands: A History of Southwest Storytelling 41 (2024-2025)

A unique resource of faculty edited college student articles on the history and culture of the El Paso, Juárez, and Southern New Mexico regions.

A History of Southwest Storytelling 41 (2024-2025)

By Abigail Bell

Stories infuse our everyday lives. From the literature students read for school, to telling someone about the events of the day, stories saturate our lives and can be seen in all aspects of life. In order to function as an informed society, journalists relate news stories. In order to entertain and educate others, fiction writers write novels. In order to convey important historical information, historians document facts. Yet, does this everyday work have a real impact and are the writers of these stories important enough to recognize? History answers with a resounding yes, and the southwest specifically has contributed many writers and stories to history. By examining the past of the southwest, residents of this region of the United States can find real meaning and everlasting stories that have imprinted the southwest story into the history books. When asked about the importance of storytelling, Tony Procell, an English professor at El Paso Community College, remarked, “Through these stories, we pass on events of our lives, and we live on.” The southwest is full of integral storytellers who have written themselves into history by preserving stories of the past and contributing to the rich, vivacious literature, art, and overall story of the southwest that we have today.

Color photo of El Paso muralBecause the history of southwest storytelling is extensive, I have organized my article into three main sections according to the periods before the Civil War, after the Civil War, and from the 1930s to the 1980s. Before the Civil War, not many fictional accounts of the southwest were written. Many of the pieces written about the southwest are informative pieces about the New World or the Wild West. In addition to this, the lasting history of Native American cave paintings add their own mark on the southwest story. After the Civil War, the southwest became more settled and diverse. Ballad writers, poets, and fiction writers began to personalize the southwest story. In the 1900s, storytellers diversified, and the southwest was full of art, poetry, and novels that told beautiful stories. Modern day writers continue to write stories, poems, songs, and further the history of the southwest, with many more stories yet to come.

Image caption: El Paso Mural (Courtesy of Kamahele, Wikimedia Commons)

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Before the Civil War (6000 BC to 1836)

The history of southwest storytelling begins much earlier than when Europeans set foot on the New World of the North and South American continents. Native Americans were making their mark on history through their unique method of storytelling, cave paintings. Hueco Tanks, an historic site near El Paso, Texas, has examples of Native American rock art that tells the story of how Native Americans in the southwest lived. These paintings depict religious rituals, animals, and meetings with Europeans with paint made from minerals such as hematite, ochre, and carbon to produce different colors. The history of these paintings stretches back to 6000 B.C. and can still be seen in Hueco Tanks today (K. Sutherland, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, “Rock Paintings at Hueco Tanks State Historic Site”). Although this form of storytelling does not use words, these paintings still play an important part for the southwest story as they help people remember the full history of the southwest. Through these paintings, southwesterners can understand Native American perspective and learn more history.

Once Europeans landed on the North and South American continents, the story of the southwest continued through the Spaniards who first explored it. One prominent Spaniard explorer and writer was Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who was the first European to explore the southwest. In his book Relación (1542), he writes about his explorations, including explorations in Mexico and Texas, exposing the rest of the world to this new land. This work is considered a cornerstone piece of literature for the Spanish southwest and has incredible accounts of a pre-settled southwest including the landscape, plant life, and native peoples. In addition to this, Relación is the first published piece of literary work about Texas, making it an important land- mark in the story of the southwest (Texas originals).

As Texas and Mexico become increasingly more settled, more writers began to depict southwest life through the perspective of new settlers. Mary Austin Holley was one of these writers. As a cousin to Stephen F. Austin, otherwise known as “The Father of Texas,” Holley had much experience and knowledge of Texas. Her book Texas (1836) was a guide for people who wanted to move to Texas. It included a general history of Texas up until May 5, 1836, a copy of the Texas and Mexican constitutions, and information about towns, businesses, communication, and transportation in Texas. Although informational, through her book Holley told the story of southwest life for the early settler, which is a story modern southwestern residents should not forget.

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After the Civil War (1865 to 1930s)

As the history of the southwest continued, so did the stories and storytellers. Texas became part of the United States in 1845, bringing more settlers and more diversity to the story of the southwest. All Americans contributed to this growing history. Southwest stories began to portray more about southwest life through different perspectives. Storytelling also changed from paintings and informative non-fiction books exclusively, to poetry, novels, and more.

A prominent way of storytelling in the Texas after the Civil War was through ballads and song. Ballads were popular on the range with cowboys and any other Texas travelers. These poems, however, were rarely written down and the authors, as well as lines from the piece, were often lost. The song “Lasca” by Frank Deprez, for example, was extremely popular with cowboys and travelers (Don Graham, “Literature,” TSHA). It was written in 1882 and emphasized the wild west mentality of the southwest. The first verse reads:

"I want free life and I want fresh air;
And I sigh for the canter after the cattle,
The crack of the whips like shots in a battle,
The medley of horns and hoofs and heads
That wars and wrangles and scatters and spreads;
The green beneath and the blue above,
And dash and danger, and life and love"
 – (lines 1-7)

The ballad went on to talk about a cowboy who was caught in a cattle stampede and lost the love of his life, masterfully telling a wild love story. However, since it was originally sung, by the time it was finally written down, many of the lines had been lost and little was known about the author (Graham). This was common of many southwest ballads, many of which sadly did not survive their day.

Another form of ballad can be found at the Texas-Mexican border in the form of songs or poems called corridos. This Spanish verse was also passed down orally from generation to generation and was often lost because they were not written down.

Corridos, like ballads, were popular with travelers and guitarreros (guitarists) and were influenced and brought by Mexican immigrants. These special songs told stories that locals, or even a nation, could relate to and find interest in. Most corridos were narratives and communicated stories to whoever would listen (Dan Dickey, “Corridos,” TSHA). For example, one of the oldest corridos written down is called “El Corrido de Kiansis”, which surfaced in the late 1860s. This song, the title which translated to “The Corrido of Kansas”, was sung on and about the Chisolm Trail by Mexican and American cowboys herding cattle through Texas (Stephanie Hall, “Corridos of the Texas Border Collected by John and Ruby Lomax: Folklife Today”). The influence of the corridos, which have a distinct form and meter, live on today in modern Mexican music and can be seen in songs such as “La Chona” by Los Tigres Del Norte and “La Puerta Negra” by Los Tucanes De Tijuana. Corridos continue to thrive today and are a large part of Mexican American life and the history of southwest storytelling.

Fiction also has a place in southwest history, mainly in romantic wild west novels. In the 1900s, many Texas novels were inspired by true historical events, such as the Alamo or the cattle drives (Graham). Romanticized and dramatized, early Texas fiction can be compared to a characteristic wild western. One of the most notable works about cattle drive life, however, was not romanticized and was praised as one of the most authentic fictional accounts of the life of a cowboy. Andy Adams lived in South Texas as a cowboy and cattle herder in the late 1880s. After recognizing that cowboys were viewed as a wild gangly bunch of trigger-happy boys by the public, Adams decided to set the record straight (Humanities Texas). In his novel The Log of a Cowboy (1903), Adams relates the true story of an American cowboy, based on his own experience. This novel was highly praised by many as a true account of what it meant to be a hard-working cowboy on the vast plains of Texas and is considered a classic in Texas literature.

black and white photo of BernicePoets were also prevalent in this period. One of the more prominent ones was Bernice Love Wiggins, who made a significant impact on southwest storytelling. Wiggins was an African-American who came to El Paso as an orphan in 1903 and began experimenting with poetry in the first grade and continued to learn about poetry throughout her education, including at El Paso Douglass High School where she learned versification. Wiggins went on to self-publish her only anthology titled Tuneful Tales (1925), which spoke of many themes in southwest life such as the black community, culture, local personalities, politics, and poverty (C.T. Evans. Wiggins, Bernice Love (1897–1936)). When asked about his favorite El Paso writers, Procell included Wiggins saying that, “Tuneful Tales inspires me in fortitude, voice, and writing about the stark reality of life.” Tuneful Tales is a landmark contribution to the history of southwest storytelling as Wiggins was among the first female African-American poets.

Image caption: Bernice Love Wiggins (Courtesy of UTEP Library Special Collections)

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From the 1930s to 1980s

Writers continued to write about the southwest in fiction, non-fiction, verse, and journalistic articles into the 1900s. When asked about El Paso writers, Procell remarked that the 1960s to the 1980s were a Golden Age in El Paso writing, “Their sense of writing itself, the mechanics, the style, and the critical thought and creativity that went into each piece leaves me in awe.” This time was full of vibrant storytellers of all kinds.

black and white photo of Tom LeaThomas Lea is a prime example of southwest storytelling in many forms, including painting, novels, and journalism, that show Lea’s love for the southwest. Born and raised in El Paso, Lea was quickly recognized by his high school teachers and fellow painters as a great artist. This was only the beginning of his multifaceted career. Throughout his life Lea served as a war correspondent and artist during WWII, painted a mural that hung in the Oval Office, illustrated novels, and wrote his own novels. In everything, Lea’s inspiration was the southwest. He grew up with Mount Franklin outside his boyhood home, and southwest landscapes and subjects were his favorite to write or paint. After a life filled with talent, art, literature, and adventure, Lea died in 2001. Lea’s influence is still strong today. As the Native Americans left their imprint in paint, so did Lea. His war paintings can be seen in the U.S. Army Center of Military History. His mural Pass of the North is still in the El Paso Federal Courthouse, and the El Paso Museum of Art has a gallery of his work. In addition to this, Lea published many novels, two of which, The Brave Bulls (1949) and The Wonderful Country (1952), were made into movies (Adair Margo. “Lea, Thomas Calloway III”). Lea has been called by J. P. Bryan, a Texas historian, “the greatest artist, illustrator and writer Texas has ever known,” and it is no mystery why. This amazingly talented man, artist, writer, journalist, captured the southwest in many mediums, establishing a presence of history for the southwest story forever.

Image caption: Tom Lea (Courtesy of WFinch, Wikimedia Commons)

Another facet of southwest storytelling can be seen in the Latina fiction writer, Ramona Gonzales. A prominent but unknown writer from the 1970s, Gonzales’s fiction stories represented her childhood in El Paso, her culture, and the community she grew to love. Gonzales grew up in the area of El Paso called the “Barrio Chihuahuita” and graduated from El Paso High School. During her life, Gonzales became a mother, business owner, beloved community matriarch, and a writer. Her first short stories, published in the Chicano literary journal El Grito. Book 1, titled Chicanas en la literatura y el arte (1973), caused her to be nominated for the Premio Quinto Sol literary award, which was founded in 1970 for outstanding Mexican American fiction writers. Her stories portrayed the El Paso community that she was such an integral part of. Her works, which were written in Spanish, are being rediscovered today and translated into English by Dr. Neil J. Deveraux (“Ramona González, writer For All Times,” C.D. Ramirez). Gonzales’s stories show yet another side of the southwest, adding to the multifaceted history of the southwest and the stories it has to offer.

black and white headshot of Barbara FunkhouserJournalism in the southwest was also thriving and helping stories of the local community survive. An important storyteller of the southwest was Barbara Funkhouser, who was a journalist and history preserver. Funkhouser was born and raised in Fairacres, New Mexico by her mother on the family farm and graduated from New Mexico State University with a degree in English, but with a passion for journalism. After several years, she began her career as a journalist freelancing in 1958, eventually being hired by the El Paso Times. This is where she made history by becoming the first women editor of the El Paso Times in 1980. She worked as an editor and writer for six years for the El Paso Times. During this time, Funkhouser highlighted members of the community such as musicians, benefactors, and spotlighted important stories for El Pasoans. In addition to this, Funkhouser was dedicated to keeping southwest history, specifically the story of southwest agriculture, alive and available to the public. After she retired from journalism, she became part of an effort to establish a new historical museum. The oral history by the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum says that Funkhouser “became concerned because she observed that many historical artifacts and documents were being collected by people outside of El Paso and New Mexico.” In order to keep this important history in the southwest, Funkhouser helped a team raise funds for and establish the museum, which was established in 1998. Funkhouser will be remembered as an important writer in the southwest story who was dedicated to keeping the stories of the southwest alive.

Image caption: Barbara Funkhouser (Courtesy of El Paso County Historical Society)

Southwest storytelling did not stop in the 2000s and continues to thrive today. Writers such as the novelist Cormac McCarthy, the poet Laurence Welsh, and the playwright Octavio Solis, continue to immortalize the history and presence of the southwest. After being asked how today’s writers can contribute to southwest storytelling, Procell remarked that they should simply write, saying, “each generation can look back at what past writers have written and learn about those times, the culture, and the El Paso living. Our writers are, in a sense, historians. They capture life during a time, much like a photograph captures a moment in time.” Just as people look to storytellers in the past to learn, in the future, people will look back on the storytellers of today to learn. As Procell said, “Writing is immortality. A writer lives on through storytelling, becoming immortal.” Through these writers, the southwest story will become immortal.

These hundreds of years of impactful southwest storytelling prove that stories last for as long as people strive to keep them alive. These stories, as well as the storytellers themselves, deserve recognition in our communities as preservers of the past, observers of the present, and shapers of the future. The exponential amount of literature, art, and information that is available about the southwest is thanks to the storytellers, from 6000 BC through to the present, who believed a story important enough to be document- ed. In order to keep these stories alive, El Pasoans must do their part to read and recognize them. It is up to current southwest residents to follow the example of our predecessors and continue making a future for southwest storytelling. 

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El Paso's Muralists / Chicano Mural Movement

Storyteller Links

Tom Lea III (artist) Sources

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